China will set aside $27bn to counter US sanctions
Central and local government agencies in China are pouring money into the so-called Big Fund, which was set up to accelerate the development of chip making tech in the country.
Reports in Bloomberg say the scheme, managed by the National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund, is set to raise USD 27 billion in a new third phase. The money will come from local governments, state-owned enterprises and their relative investment agencies.
Obviously, this activity is all part of China's efforts to build up its own chip making supply chain in the face of US export restrictions. Since its inception in 2014, the Big Fund has raised hundreds of billions of dollars and acquired stakes in dozens of microelectronics companies. The second phase, which raised USD 41 billion, came last September.
US sanctions have hit China hard. China's biggest fab SMIC was placed on a US trade blacklist in 2020 as a potential national security risk, and has lost ground at the more advanced end of the market. That said, there have been reports that SMIC could be on track to mass produce advanced processors with 5nm-class process technology later this year.
